Cover not available

Article published In: Pragmatics: Online-First Articles

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Production and understanding of change‑of‑state tokens in English talk‑in‑interaction among L1 and L2 speakers

ORCiD logo with link | Gyeongin National University of Education
ORCiD logo with link | Seoul National University
Published online: 1 August 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.24075.sun
Abstract
This study investigates the production and understanding of change-of-state tokens like oh and ah in English conversations among one L1 speaker and three L2 speakers. Using conversation analysis, it examines how these speakers do interactional work to achieve shared understanding through these tokens. The L1 speaker produces oh to signal changes of state (Heritage, John. 1984. “A Change-of-State Token and Aspects of Its Sequential Placement.” In Structures of Social Action, ed. by John Maxwell Atkinson, and John Heritage, 299–345. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), which L2 speakers respond to appropriately. On the other hand, the L2 speakers often use ah, apparently influenced by its usage in their native language (Korean), which the L1 speaker also understands as indicating a change of state. While these discourse particles help achieve intersubjectivity, the study identifies moments of potential misalignment in orientations, as L2 speakers sometimes use ah in ways the L1 speaker does not fully grasp. The findings highlight the importance of the situated adaptability in multilingual interactions and the mutual responsibility to embrace interactional variations between L1 and L2 speakers.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous research
    • 2.1Change-of-state tokens
    • 2.2Change-of-state tokens in L2 interaction
  • 3.Methods
    • 3.1Conversation analysis as research framework
    • 3.2Conversation data
    • 3.3Transcription and analysis
  • 4.Findings
    • 4.1Production and understanding of an L1 speaker’s change-of-state tokens
    • 4.2Production and understanding of L2 learners’ change-of-state tokens
      • 4.2.1Oh
      • 4.2.2Ah
  • 5.General discussion and conclusion
  • Note
  • References
References (56)
References
Aijmer, Karin. 1987. “Oh and Ah in English Conversation.” In Corpus Linguistics and Beyond, ed. by Willem Meijis, 61–86. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Aston, Guy. 1987. “Ah: A Corpus-Based Exercise in Conversational Analysis.” In Spoken Discourse, ed. by John Morley, and Alan Partington, 123–137. Camerino: Universita di Camerino.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bolden, Galina B. 2006. “Little Words That Matter: Discourse Markers ‘So’ and ‘Oh’ and the Doing of Other-Attentiveness in Social Interaction.” Journal of Communication 56 (4): 661–688. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth. 2021. “OH + OKAY in Informing Sequences: On Fuzzy Boundaries in a Particle Combination.” Open Linguistics 7 (1): 816–836. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Endo, Tomoko. 2018. “The Japanese Change-of-State Tokens a and aa in Responsive Units.” Journal of Pragmatics 1231: 151–166. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Firth, Alan. 1996. “The Discursive Accomplishment of Normality: On ‘Lingua Franca’ English and Conversation Analysis.” Journal of Pragmatics 26 (2): 237–259. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gardner, Rod. 2007. “‘Broken’ Starts: Bricolage in Turn Starts in Second Language Talk”. In Language Learning and Teaching as Social Interaction, ed. by Zhu Hua, Paul Seedhouse, Li Wei, and Vivian Cook, 58–71. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Golato, Andrea. 2012. “German oh: Marking an Emotional Change of State.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 45 (3): 245–268. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hauser, Eric. 2005. “Coding ‘Corrective Recasts’: The Maintenance of Meaning and More Fundamental Problems.” Applied Linguistics 26 (3): 293–316. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. “Turn Taking and Primary Speakership During a Student Discussion.” In Talk-in-Interaction: Multilingual Perspectives, ed. by Hanh thi Nguyen, and Gabriele Kasper, 215–244. Honolulu: National Foreign Language Resource Center.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hayashi, Makoto, and Kaoru Hayano. 2018. “A-Prefaced Response to Inquiry in Japanese.” In Between Turn and Sequence: Turn-Initial Particles Across Languages, ed. by John Heritage, and Marja-Leena Sorjonen, 193–223. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heinemann, Trine. 2015. “Registering Revision: The Reduplicated Danish Change-of-State Token nå.” Discourse Studies 18 (1): 44–63. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2016. “From ‘Looking’ to ‘Seeing’: Indexing Delayed Intelligibility of an Object with the Danish Change of State Token n↑å↓:.” Journal of Pragmatics 1041: 108–132. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. “Transitioning Between Activities with the Danish Change-of-State Token nå.” Journal of Pragmatics 1181: 1–21. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heinemann, Trine, and Aino Koivisto. 2016. “Indicating a Change-of-State in Interaction: Cross-Linguistic Explorations.” Journal of Pragmatics 1041: 83–88. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heritage, John. 1984. “A Change-of-State Token and Aspects of Its Sequential Placement.” In Structures of Social Action, ed. by John Maxwell Atkinson, and John Heritage, 299–345. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1998. “Oh-Prefaced Responses to Inquiry.” Language in Society 27 (3): 291–334. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2002. “Oh-Prefaced Responses to Assessments: A Method of Modifying Agreement/Disagreement.” In The Language of Turn and Sequence, ed. by Cecilia E. Ford, Barbara A. Fox, and Sandra A. Thompson, 196–224. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005. “Conversation Analysis and Institutional Talk.” In Handbook of Language and Social Interaction, ed. by Kristine L. Fitch, and Robert E. Sanders, 103–147. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2016. “On the Diversity of ‘Changes of State’ and Their Indices.” Journal of Pragmatics 1041: 207–210. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hosoda, Yuri. 2006. “Repair and Relevance of Differential Language Expertise in Second Language Conversations.” Applied Linguistics 27 (1): 25–50. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
James, Deborah. 1978. “The Use of Oh, Ah, Say, and Well in Relation to a Number of Grammatical Phenomena.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 11 (3–4): 517–535. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jefferson, Gail. 1979. “A Technique for Inviting Laughter and Its Subsequent Acceptance/Declination.” In Everyday Language: Studies in Ethnomethodology, ed. by George Psathas, 79–96. New York: Irvington.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1984. “Notes on Some Orderlinesses of Overlap Onset.” In Discourse Analysis and Natural Rhetoric, ed. by Valentina D’Urso, and Paolo Leonardi, 11–38. Padua: Cleup Editore.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2004. “Glossary of Transcript Symbols with an Introduction.” In Conversation Analysis: Studies from the First Generation, ed. by Gene H. Lerner, 13–31. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jeon, Youngok. 2019. “A Study on Functions of Exclamation ‘Ah’ Appearing in Conversations.” Language Facts and Perspectives 481: 543–568. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kasterpalu, Riina, and Tilt Hennoste. 2016. “Estonian aa: A Multifunctional Change-of-State Token.” Journal of Pragmatics 1041: 148–162. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kim, Kyu-hyun. 2003. “An Analysis of Collaborative Completion in Korean Conversation.” Language Research 39 (1): 147–182. [URL]
Kindt, Duane. 2017. “A Working Paper on Multiple Resources for Indicating Change of State in EFL Conversations for Learning.” Journal of the School of Contemporary International Studies 131: 195–220.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koivisto, Aino. 2015. “Displaying Now-Understanding: The Finnish Change-of-State Token aa.” Discourse Processes 52 (2): 111–148. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koshik, Irene. 2002. “Designedly Incomplete Utterances: A Pedagogical Practice for Eliciting Knowledge Displays in Error Correction Sequences.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 35 (3): 277–309. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kurhila, Salla. 2001. “Correction in Talk Between Native and Non-Native Speaker.” Journal of Pragmatics 33 (7): 1083–1110. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Küttner, Uwe A. 2018. “Investigating Inferences in Sequences of Action: The Case of Claiming “Just-Now” Recollection with Oh That’s Right.” Open Linguistics 4 (1): 101–126. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lee, Hyo Sang, Kyung-Eun Yoon, and Sang-Seok Yoon. 2017. “Teaching Listener Responses to KFL Students.” The Korean Language in America 21 (2): 250–261. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lee, Yo-An. 2006. “Respecifying Display Questions: Interactional Resources for Language Teaching.” TESOL Quarterly 40 (4): 691–713. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Linneweber, Judith. 2016. “Why a German ‘Oh’ Is Not Necessarily an English ‘Oh’: Showing Understanding and Emotions with Change-of-State Tokens.” Teaching German 49 (2): 186–198. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Markee, Numa, and Gabriele Kasper. 2004. “Classroom Talks: An Introduction.” The Modern Language Journal 88 (4): 491–500.
Maynard, Douglas W. 2003. Bad News, Good News: Conversational Order in Everyday Talk and Clinical Settings. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [URL]
Mori, Junko. 2002. “Task Design, Plan and Development of Talk-in-Interaction: An Analysis of a Small Group Activity in a Japanese Language Classroom.” Applied Linguistics 23 (3): 323–347. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pekarek Doehler, Simona, and Gudrun Ziegler. 2007. “Doing Language, Doing Science and the Sequential Organization of the Immersion Classroom.” In Language Learning and Teaching as Social Interaction, ed. by Zhu Hua, Paul Seedhouse, Li Wei, and Vivian Cook, 72–86. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pekarek Doehler, Simona, and Søren W. Eskildsen. 2022. “Emergent L2 Grammars in and for Social Interaction: Introduction to the Special Issue.” Modern Language Journal 106 (S1): 3–22. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pike, Kenneth. 1967. Language in Relation to a Unified Theory of the Structure of Human Behavior. The Hague: Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sacks, Harvey. 1992. Lectures on Conversation. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sacks, Harvey, Emanuel Schegloff, and Gail Jefferson. 1974. “A Simplest Systematics for the Organization of Turn-Taking in Conversation.” Language 50 (4): 696–735. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schegloff, Emanuel. 1992. “Repair After Next Turn: The Last Structurally Provided Defense of Intersubjectivity in Conversation.” American Journal of Sociology 97 (5): 1295–1345. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2006. “Interaction: The Infrastructure for Social Institutions, the Natural Ecological Niche for Language and the Arena in Which Culture is Enacted.” In Roots of Human Sociality: Culture, Cognition and Interaction, ed. by Nicholas J. Enfield, and Stephen C. Levinson, 70–96. New York: Berg. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2007. Sequence Organization in Interaction: A Primer in Conversation Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Seedhouse, Paul. 2005. “Conversation Analysis and Language Learning.” Language Teaching 38 (4): 165–187. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sidnell, Jack. 2013. “Basic Conversation Analytic Methods.” In The Handbook of Conversation Analysis, ed. by Jack Sidnell, and Tanya Stivers, 77–99. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stivers, Tanya. 2004. “‘No No No’ and Other Types of Multiple Sayings in Social Interaction.” Human Communication Research 30 (2): 260–293. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sullivan, Christopher. 2010. “Change-of-State Tokens in L2 Interactions.” Tokyo Woman’s Christian University Bulletin Journal 60 (2): 273–290.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
ten Have, Paul. 2007. Doing Conversation Analysis, 2nd ed. London: Sage. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weidner, Matylda. 2016. “Aha-Moments in Interaction: Indexing a Change of State in Polish.” Journal of Pragmatics 1041: 193–206. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wong, Jean, and Hansun Zhang Waring. 2020. Conversation Analysis and Second Language Pedagogy: A Guide for ESL/EFL Teachers, 2nd ed. New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Xu, Meiling. 2019. “A Study on the Chinese Correspondence of Korean Discourse Marker ‘Ah’: By Focusing on the Discourse Function.” The Journal of Foreign Studies 501: 273–292. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Young, Richard F., and Jina Lee. 2004. “Identifying Units in Interaction: Reactive Tokens in Korean and English Conversations.” Journal of Sociolinguistics 8 (3): 380–407. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue